Focus on the size of me + This is what hope looks like
E85: On Overwhelm, climate, Diane Osgood. Friends & Family IRL 2 - The Cevennes, France
Where in the world is Karena? Today, she is in The Cevennes, France
I’m so excited. I’m at a Writer’s Retreat just outside Anduze. I’ve met and hugged a few of the writers who have been part of my journey since June 2020. They’ve hung out with me virtually - in my office, my kitchen, (even my bedroom!) as we wrote together through the Covid era. Now we meet IRL (it means In Real Life, Mummy). I’m breathing the same air, sharing the same table, writing “together”.
These wonderful people gave me encouragement. They moved my mindset and shifted my identity from obscure coder-who-shares-online to Author. Still obscure, but published! Contours of Courageous Parenting is a decision-making book written to help parents teach their children how to progressively develop the muscle of making better choices.
If I spend half as much time writing as I do talking, I plan to leave the retreat with a solid first draft of my second book in the series. Working title ‘Ripples’, this second book tells the story of a sabbatical our young family took in 2004-2005. We travelled to 16 countries over 9 months. Almost 20 years later, this book explores how that adventure may have influenced the traditions, education and career choices, and mindset of our family of five.
I’m glad I set my newsletter to auto-publish while I travel, as I can only make minor tweaks as our wifi access permits. (It is beautifully isolated on the border of the National Park, and has poor cell coverage. This enforced separation from wifi and world is perfect for my book editing focus!) I thought I’d resurrect some older writings. If you have followed my writing and podcasting since 2015 I hope you will enjoy revisiting some of these timeless messages.
See you again next week, Tribe Tilt. Till then, stay safe and healthy. From there all else becomes possible.
Karena
Focus on the size of me: This podcast episode was first published on June 25, 2019. I’d committed to recording a series of short daily episodes to raise Climate Awareness while practice my new craft of podcast editing. I was only six episodes in, but the questions and scale of the task had already started wearing on me. Imposter syndrome loomed large.
This is what hope looks like: And to answer the question above, feel-good stories on the difference one couple (Sebastiao & Leila) or one person (Diane Osgood) CAN make in climate space.
Overwhelm
Faced with the barrage of information on climate rolling like a tsunami towards us, I sometimes feel like the little Dutch boy trying desperately to save his family and his country from flooding. With only his finger, stuck in a dike, he tried to hold the whole world together.
Steeped in overwhelm, I found myself asking questions that seemed to steer me further away from my purpose of making a meaningful difference:
Crazy? Why did you volunteer to do this?
What difference can you make?
There are other passionate people doing this day-in, day-out, for a living
Is it even worth it?
How much more can you / are you able to / are you willing to / do?
The more I thought about it, the bigger my sense of uselessness got.
I couldn't even find the edge of it
How do I - a Mother, a regular member of society - expect to be able to make a tiny impact when so many scientists, activists, and actors have been doing this full-time? I know people who attended the first UN climate summit in Rio de Janeiro in 1993. That is when they started issuing warnings and alerts and ringing alarm bells. Years of activism and sacrifice. (Read E72: 30 years and 2.5 bn people ago)
Who am I, and what difference can I make?
The heavens sometimes answer our questions before we ask them. Serendipity. Karma. Call it what you will. As if to answer my self-doubt, I opened my journal, and on paper probably printed a year ago was a quote from T. Harv Eker:
So what is ‘the size of me’?
It is my circle of friends and family who are as concerned about climate change.
It is the sight of a summer sunset, an ancient oak forest, and buzzing bees.
It is the distance between my ancestors and our unborn generations.
I have to continuously remind myself that I have a part to play. I have chosen and committed to raising the profile on the Climate Crisis. I have agency. As I sit here in the Cevennes, reinvigorated by nature, with the sound of a cuckoo (real one!) providing accompaniment to the soundtrack of my clicking keyboard, I realize I can:
Make a single climate-related decision or action, daily.
Discover something new about the urgency - via blogs, conversations, new technology.
Share the imminent threat with people around me.
Actively discuss creative solutions. Because the best idea can come from anyone, anywhere.
Make commitments. Take actions. Talk about it.
(Make. Take. Talk. is our CTA in Tribe Tilt for our newer tribe members.)
That is about the size of me, and a good place to start. To do what is within my parameters of time, tools, and ability. To share my thoughts with those closest and dearest to me — including you. And when I finally get the hang of that space, to stretch a little beyond.
What is the size of you?
Individually, this thing may have us beat.
But I wholeheartedly believe in the ingenuity of the human race. I believe that with enough attention and maintaining a healthy focus on the issue of climate crisis, we will make more daily decisions that will collectively help the Human Race survive on Mother Earth, maybe even reverse the crisis.
I hope you will join me in this mission.
GenZ
I also believe that there is a basket of great ideas out there; that the best idea can come from anyone 11yrs-98yrs, anywhere. If they feel empowered to voice their opinion.
It comes down to simple conversations. At dinner. In the car. In the lunchroom and coffee houses. At sports and in the classroom. Conversations, voiced out loud (away from the silent confines of our own head) find supporters and co-conspirators. “Whatifs?” suddenly replace the “cant’s”. So lean into the challenge. What if we could solve the climate crisis? How would the air smell sweeter? How might the sand sparkle? What would it look like to return to full reservoirs and ski seasons?
“Because out there, somewhere, are a bunch of Einsteins, Goodalls, and Attenboroughs. (Or
and Kathy Karns’)This podcast episode:
The aim is to raise enough awareness that we sense the urgency of the situation and begin to take daily actions.
Could this quote help you, too?
Previously published on https://karenadesouza.com on LinkedIn and Instagram
Photo, audio & video credits: Headliner app, Canva, Simplecast, creator Karena de Souza
And this is what hope looks like
Can one person make a difference? As if to answer my question above, Tilt Tribe member Lisa Orlick shared this link with me:
I recommend reading the Instagram post with all the comments. But for those who cannot access it, here is what the post reads:
The award-winning photojournalist Sebastião Salgado and his wife, the architect Lélia Deluiz Wanick, decided to show the world what a small group of people with faith in Earth and in human beings can do.
They reforested in Aimorés, Minas Gerais, Brazil, a devastated 1,500-acre forest home to more than 500 endangered plant and animal species based on the land's ability to regenerate under the right conditions.
They decided to plant 2 Million trees in 20 years to restore a destroyed forest in Brazil. Even The wildlife has returned, some 172 bird species have returned, as well as 33 species of mammals, an entire ecosystem rebuilt from.
Sounds like a great idea, but you cannot plant trees? Switch to Ecosia as your search engine and they will plant trees powered by all the searches you already do.
Where Everyone’s a Leader
Diane Osgood is our main organizer for this WiC-huddle writer’s retreat. She is creating and curating a wonderful experience in this tiny corner of France. We have ample time to write, read aloud, talk to each other, and create moments of interaction that spark new thoughts.
She holds a PhD in Environmental Economics from LSE. She recently published an article in Fast Company (https://www.fastcompany.com/90880239/business-leaders-dont-get-up-to-date-climate-data-that-could-spell-disaster) advocating businesses access up-to-date stats on climate when running their business. You can see her climate care and concern run through every element of this week - from the book she is currently finishing, to the terroir of the local wines, pairing the local foods she is introducing us to.
We visited a local goat cheese maker where we met the sheep and the goats that graze on herbs, fallen nuts and grass in the shade of the ancient chestnut forests; vineyards where we can see the vines from which the wine was harvested, ate chestnut crackers and jam and applied chestnut creams to our faces. Each owner takes tremendous pride in producing a quality product. They share their direct relationship with the impact that climate changes have on their honey production, their goats, and their vines. It is true. Your biggest climate advocate is a farmer.
[local cheese photo] [vineyard photo]
Diane is one of the primary authors and organizers behind the best-seller The Carbon Almanac packed full with climate information, conversation starters, and ideas. Her article on the process of creating this special book was published in Fast Company: Lessons from a project with no managers, no boss, and everyone is a leader. Follow her on LinkedIn. Read the article. Be inspired. Lead change. Create a project.
Never doubt your ability to make a difference.
Like Sebastiao & Leila.
Like Diane Osgood.
Like the little Dutch boy.
“… focus on the size of you.”
Welcome to all our new members of Tribe Tilt!!!
This is a community that believes in the best of humanity - connecting people, sharing ideas, and exploring thoughts respectfully. And we believe we can make a difference to the people and places that are precious to us. Feel free to join the conversation.
I would like to thank the many writers from WoP10 who streamlined and helped me develop this article:
Mayuran Sabesan, Andy Hsu, Andreas Marinopoulis ( ), Chinwe Uzegbu, Lisa Orlick.See you next week. Stay healthy. From there all else becomes possible.
Karena
This is, hands down, one of your best pieces Karena. And no, not because I see my name in the middle (although it did draw a smile on my face).
There is something that sits underneath all this writing—your passion. I could feel it in each word. I feel like a better person after reading this. Bravo.
Love your writing, your passion for the health of Mother Earth, your ability to connect to our hearts with your positive messages. YES to "
"Individually, this thing may have us beat.
But I wholeheartedly believe in the ingenuity of the human race. I believe that with enough attention and maintaining a healthy focus on the issue of climate crisis, we will make more daily decisions that will collectively help the Human Race survive on Mother Earth, maybe even reverse the crisis."
Please hug all our Crow writers and Diane, the Tamoffs et al and travel safely back home. See you in June in Toronto!!